1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voting system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automated direct vote recording system (DVRS).
2. Description of the Related Art
Voting systems have generally been developed to facilitate voting. However, these systems are not highly reliable and are not flexible for use in a variety of voting conditions. In addition, prior voting systems are generally difficult to use by both election officials that create and tally an election and by voters.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a voting system that meets Federal Election Commission Requirements, and can create a variety of elections.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a voting system that is easy to use, has a portable Voting Machine, high level of security and reliability, displays the correct ballot to each voter without intervention of a Polling Officer, retains voting results accumulated over a period of weeks, display ballots in different languages, and supports various voting conditions such as cumulative voting and candidate rotation.
It is yet another an object of the invention to provide a voting system that supports each cycle of a vote, including election or ballot definition, Polling Place preparation, voting, poll closing, and vote tallying.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a voting system that supports voter authorization, practice and test voting, result reporting, fraud prevention, hardware capabilities and audit trails.
The DVRS system generally comprises three primary components: Personal Computer (PC) which runs an Election Management System (EMS), Direct Vote Recording Machine (DVRM or Voting Machine) and Smart Card Activator Device (SCAD). In addition, the DVRS includes PCMCIA Ballot/Tally Data Carriers (Data Carrier), Voter Smart Cards and Polling Officer smart cards. The EMS is used to create an election and tally election results. The SCAD is used to configure Voter Smart Cards to control voting, which occurs on the DVRM. The Data Carriers are used in two roles, first as a Ballot/Tally carrier to transfer election or ballot data for the EMS to the DVRMs and SCADs and to transfer tally data from the DVRM to the EMS, and second as an Archive Data Carrier.
The DVRS generally operates as follows. (1) Data of a new election is created using the EMS software on the PC. (2) Downloading that data to Ballot/Tally Data Carriers which are then transported to Polling Place(s) where (3) the data is then loaded into the SCAD and DVRM(s). (4) Hardware tests may then be conducted on the DVRS equipment and Test Voting may be performed to validate operational DVRS software and the accuracy of the downloaded election data. (5) The election is then conducted using the SCAD to generate Voter Smart Cards for Test, Practice, and Active voting and the DVRM to collect votes. (6) Polls are closed, the data is downloaded from the DVRM(s) to the Data Carrier. And, (7) the Carrier is returned to the PC where election results are computed and reports made. Test and Practice voting may only be conducted prior to opening the polls, and the Polling Officer smart card is used by a Polling Officer to control operation of the SCAD and DVRMs at the Polling Place.
An Auto-Secure Mode is provided so that the Polling Officer neither has to guard the SCAD nor take it along when called away from their post. The auto-secure mode will power-down the SCAD after 15 minutes of inactivity or upon command. Access can only be resumed by inserting a Polling Officer smart card and entering the Polling Officer password. The SCAD will then display the Polling Officer menu. The Polling Officer can enable/disable the automatic function.
The DVRM solely supports voting. The DVRM includes redundant memory and dual power capabilities to protect voting results and to allow continued operation in the event of power failure. Built-in security features minimize the potential for vote fraud while keeping Polling Officer training requirements to a minimum. The DVRM displays ballots and accepts votes an those ballots. In support of Active Voting, the DVRM may also be used as a Practice Voting Machine and also has a Test Voting mode for use prior to Polls Open. The Polling Officer, however, does not need to access a DVRM during Active Voting. Polling Officer tasks are only required prior to polls open for loading and testing, and after polls are closed for data retrieval and optional local reports.
Operation of the DVRM generally begins with the Polling Officer loading the DVRM with new election data. The data is then verified and optional hardware tests or adjustments may be performed. Prior to polls open, the DVRM may also be used for Test Voting or Practice Voting. Once the polls have been opened on a DVRM, that unit will no longer accept a Test Voting smart card under any circumstances since Test Voting collects test votes which could destroy the live data. Practice voting however does not save data and can therefore be performed at any time, but only on DVRMs dedicated to Practice Voting.
Each Polling Officer is also issued an EMS User Password by a person designated as the DVRS System Administrator, which the Polling Officer may change if so inclined. This EMS User Password is used to access the EMS software on the PC for the purpose of creating the Polling Officer SCAD and DVRM passwords. The Polling Officer creates and enters his/her own alphabetic DVRM password. The EMS will validate that sequence as the Polling Officer DVRM Password and will also create and return a numeric sequence as that Polling Officer""s SCAD Password. Because the SCAD has only a numeric keypad, and the DVRM has only an alphabetic keypad, the Polling Officer is issued both a Polling Officer SCAD Password and a Polling Officer DVRM Password. These are used for accessing the respective units at the Polling Place. These passwords are unique to this Polling Officer at this Polling Place for this election.
The bulk of Polling Place preparation is best performed far in advance of Election Day to allow time for changes. If this is done, the Polling Officer must only remove the batteries after the testing is complete and store the units securely until Election Day. At that time, three actions may be performed: the units may be put directly into service at Polls Open time, any part(s) of the original Polling Place Preparation can be repeated either to update the election data due to intervening changes, or a demonstration can be performed to verify that Data Integrity has been maintained during post-testing storage and transport to the Polling Place.
The voting system of the present invention provides support for all voting conditions, including early voting, primary elections, multiple ballot entries for a single candidate endorsed by multiple parties, ticket voting, ticket splitting, overvote prevention, write-in voting, and two-part recalls. The system can also create bilingual ballots with text in two languages on the same ballot page, large-text ballots, and audio response. Party icons can be displayed as part of each candidate""s ballot entry. Signatures and official seals may be displayed on the first or last page of each ballot or on the top of every page. A variety of controls allow the using jurisdiction to tailor the system to local needs and procedures.
Authorized users are required to sign on to the EMS using an ID and password. The access control subsystem will confirm a user""s identity against a file of encrypted passwords. This subsystem will then limit access to authorized elections and to just those functions authorized for the selected election. All other subsystems are designed so they cannot be invoked independently of the access control subsystem. The Voter Smart Card is password protected using a Polling Place specific internal password known only to the SCADs and DVRMs. The Voter Smart Cards can only be used one time at one Polling Place and for one election until re-programmed by the SCAD. All data stored on the PCs and Data Carriers are encrypted, preferably at the record level. Tamper detection codes may also be used. The Voter and Polling Officer smart cards are password protected.
No critical data is stored on the SCAD, so encryption is not necessary. Data stored on the DVRM will rely on the physical security provided for the Voting Machines themselves. Therefore, the DVRM is not encrypted in the preferred embodiment. Data stored in the RAM drive and in flash memory on the DVRMs is protected by Reed-Solomon codes. All PC-based subsystems keep a complete audit log of all database maintenance (add, change, delete) activities and all other user requests. All action records will contain the user ID, date/time, facility, and type of action (e.g., report or function requested).
These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.